News in Brief: A National Roundup

W. Va Student Prohibited From Starting 'Anarchy' Club

A West Virginia student suspended for trying to form an "anarchy
club" received a setback this month when a local circuit court judge
sided with the Kanawha County school board and ruled that such a club
would be disruptive.

Katie Sierra, a sophomore at the 700-student Sissonville High School
near Charleston, filed a complaint against the school board after she
was suspended for three days last month for attempting to form the club
against the wishes of school administrators.

School officials later barred her from wearing T- shirts expressing
sentiments against the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.

Circuit Court Judge James Stucky said in the Nov. 1 decision that
while the right to free speech is "sacred," it is tempered by the
limitation that it not disrupt the educational process.

Roger D. Forman, a Charleston lawyer who represents Ms. Sierra, said
that he has appealed the preliminary injunction to the state supreme
court and will pursue the matter in the federal court system if
necessary.

—Jessica L. Sandham

Some Baltimore Teachers Set to Receive Extra Pay

Baltimore teachers have approved a contract that provides an 11
percent salary hike for teachers in the Chief Executive Officer's
District. The special district, which contains the city's 12
lowest-performing schools, targets more resources to schools in an
effort to boost achievement over three to five years.

Teachers throughout the city will receive a 5 percent across-
the-board increase, with those in the CEO district getting 6 percent
extra in the two-year contract, retroactive to July 1. The raise is
expected to cost the school system $34 million over the next two
years.

Of the nearly 7,300 members of the Baltimore Teachers Union, 721
came out to vote. The contract was approved by a 4-1 ratio on Oct. 31.
The school board also has approved the contract.

—Tom Kim

Schools Near Trade Center Site Turned Back to N.Y.C. Board

The New York City board of education has regained control of two
schools that were being used for emergency operations following the
Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Public School 89 and Intermediate School 89, which are located about
three blocks from the ruins of the World Trade Center, were being used
by police, the U.S. Army, and the city's department of design and
construction, The New York Times reported.

It is not clear whether classes will resume at the two schools,
which were turned back over to the district on Nov. 5. School officials
said they will confer with parents and teachers to see if they would
want children to return to the buildings.

— Tom Kim

Elgin, Ill., District Settles Athletic-Discrimination Case

School board members in Elgin, Ill., agreed last week to settle a
case that contended female athletes at a high school received unequal
facilities and treatment.

The board of education for School District 46, responding to a suit
filed in April by four parents at Elgin High School, agreed to build a
girls' locker room and dugouts on the girls' softball field at the
school. The 39,800-student district also agreed to schedule girls'
games on the weekend and, based on participation, keep as many coaches
for girls as for boys.

Implementing the agreement is expected to cost about $500,000, said
Larry Ascough, a spokesman for the district. The girls' locker room at
the high school is to be ready by next spring, while most other parts
of the accord would be phased in over the next several years.

A federal court in Chicago still must approve the settlement. It is
scheduled to convene Nov. 16.

— Mark Stricherz

Ga. High Court Rules Sex at School Not Protected by Right to Privacy

A 14-year-old girl who allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy in a
high school restroom stall was not protected by a right of privacy,
Georgia's highest court ruled last week.

The girl, identified in court papers as C.P., was discovered in
August 2000 with the boy in a stall at Rockdale County High School in
the 13,600-student Rockdale County district. She was charged in a
juvenile court with delinquent acts of fornication and public
indecency. The boy was initially charged with statutory rape but
pleaded guilty to public indecency.

The juvenile court declined to quash the charges against C.P., but
allowed her to seek review by the Georgia Supreme Court. In that court,
her lawyer argued that the state's fornication statute violated her
right of privacy as guaranteed by the state constitution.

In its unanimous Nov. 5 ruling, the high court said that the state
has a role in "shielding the public from inadvertent exposure to the
intimacies of others."

The girl's case will return to the juvenile court for
resolution.

—Mark Walsh

Savannah, Ga., Schools Ban 'Lewd' Student Performances

The Chatham County, Ga., school board last week unanimously approved
new guidelines intended to keep cheerleading, band performances, and
other school performances wholesome.

Determining which performances cross the line will be the
responsibility of principals in the 35,000-student district, located in
Savannah.

Diane M. Cantor, the president of the nine-member board, said
complaints about the appropriateness of student performances are
common, topped only by questions about teaching materials.

—Ann Bradley

Students' Medical Records Mistakenly Posted on Web

Confidential details from the medical files of children and
teenagers who participated in psychiatric clinical studies have been
taken off the University of Montana's Web site.

The records were accidentally posted from Oct. 26 to Nov. 5, when
they were removed after a local newspaper published a story about the
breach of privacy on the Missoula campus.

Posted were the patients' psychological evaluations, details from
visits with doctors, and diagnoses of serious conditions, including
mental retardation, depression, and schizophrenia. In some cases, the
records listed the patients' full names, dates of birth, and home
addresses.

A newly trained psychologist who studied some of the patients during
an internship thought she was uploading 126 of her personal files to a
private server. But instead, she put the information on the computer's
Web server, said Ray Ford, the university's assistant vice president
for information technology.

Mr. Ford said the process through which medical files are entered
into computers is under "immediate review."

—Lisa Fine

Pa. Police Absolved in Suit Over Gay Student's Suicide

A federal jury in Pennsylvania last week cleared three police
officers accused of causing the death of a high school football player
by threatening to "out" him as being gay.

The officers from the town of Minersville, 55 miles northeast of
Harrisburg, were absolved of liability in a lawsuit brought by the
player's mother, Madonna Sterling. Her son, Marcus Wayman, 18, shot
himself in the head in 1997 after three police officers who stopped him
with a male companion in a car allegedly threatened to tell his
grandfather that he was homosexual.

The civil lawsuit, filed on Ms. Sterling's behalf by the Lesbian and
Gay Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, alleged that
the three officers violated Mr. Wayman's right to privacy, said James
Esseks, the project's litigation director.

The same case led to a November 2000 decision by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, based in Philadelphia, prohibiting police,
teachers, firefighters, guidance counselors, and other employees from
divulging information about students' sexual orientation without their
consent, he noted.

—Ann Bradley

Vol. 21, Issue 11, Page 4

Published in Print: November 14, 2001, as News in Brief: A National Roundup

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